EVERETT — The Everett Film Festival puts the spotlight on films from off the beaten path.
Going for 25 editions now, “people are sometimes surprised to learn Everett has a film festival,” the all-volunteer festival’s director Teresa Henderson said.
This year’s film lineup segments itself into three parts: A section about trees and nature, a section on farmland and rivers and a section on personal resiliency. All pieces are directed by women.
The festival’s doors open at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6 and runs for nine hours in the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave. There will be a break at 3 p.m. and a one-hour dinner break from 5:20 to 6:20 p.m.
An all-volunteer crew selects a range of independent films for each festival. “We try to find little hidden gems out there,” Henderson said.
They’ve been finding their feet since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic that interrupted movie-going.
Opening the festival are documentaries such as “Daughters of the Forest” (2015), which tells the story of girls who protect a rare remote forest in Paraguay, and then “Treeline: The Secret Life of Trees” (2020), which Henderson called a “gorgeously photographed” film. Part of “Treeline” probes the concept of how trees can communicate with each other through fungus on the forest floor. A fungus expert from Everett’s Black Forest Mushrooms, mycologist Nicholas Fiacco, will give a Q-and-A.
Next is three hyperlocal pieces about farming, salmon and flooding in the Snohomish River Basin from the film library of the Snohomish Conservation District.
Two farmer filmmakers will chat with the audience after.
At 4:05 p.m. is “Cherry” (2022) a prize-winning dramedy feature of a young woman. “We just liked it,” Henderson said.
After the dinner break is the feature “You Hurt My Feelings” (2023) starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a novelist whose marriage goes through turmoil after hearing she was being fed lies. The sharply scripted film was at Sundance last year.
Tickets are $50 for general admission, $40 for students, seniors and military.
The first 250 people will receive organic sandwiches. Free popcorn will be constantly flowing.
Tickets and further details on the film lineup, including a preview reel, is available at www.everettfilmfestival.org
